The Great Assumption Gathering 2011

The Gathering is over last Saturday, 19 Nov 2011 at Lodge18 in Butterworth. Build-up to the event had nearly 90 Assumption alumni over all years signing in on Facebook that they will attend. A hall with 10 tables was booked, food for 80 ordered. However, only 30+ kept their words, so each of those present had to share the RM3k bill. For those who traveled from afar (e.g. Singapore and elsewhere), the cost was even higher. Surely and expressively, it was no fault of the organizers, they had made it possible for all of us. And so, whose loss was it?

No matter the age gap (if there was one), we bonded like lost friends. As said that night, Assumption is not a school building, it is the spirit that lives in each of us who had passed its grounds. It was not about showing off how successful you have been or are right now, it is about the common legacy each of us shared that made us what we are today. For those who could not or did not make it there, you have missed some wonderful camaraderie that money cannot buy. We took potshots at our former teachers who sportingly and gracefully accepted it without prejudice. We recalled the history that passed by, why the buildings are now forever gone, why the badge design was changed, the spirited fights of the staff, teachers and administrators that went on while we were growing up and growing away.

We also remember those who had gone before us. We remember Abdul Razak, James Toh and Leong Kok Choon. Who knows when we will meet again or never at all?

So, treasure each moment and each friend you have. If the opportunity comes again, put aside any embarrassment (if any), cast aside the busyness of your work schedule, forget the family & children for a while. Come and catch up with your old schoolmates, those we call friends in our formative childhood years, those we carefreely embraced and accepted before discriminative race, politics or beliefs took root, and before our commitments took us away.

The Great Assumption Gathering 2011 was a start. For a while, we forgot our differences and took joy in becoming innocent (& mischievous) children again.

Long live Assumption~!!